1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a cooling system for an internal combustion engine wherein a liquid coolant is boiled and the vapor used as a vehicle for removing heat from the engine and more specifically to such an engine wherein to avoid contamination of the system with non-condensibles such as air and the like, the coolant jacket and heat exchanger (radiator) are automatically filled with liquid coolant upon the temperature falling below a predetermined level.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In currently used "water cooled" internal combustion engines, the engine coolant (liquid) is forcefully circulated by a water pump through a circuit including the engine coolant jacket and a radiator (usually fan cooled). This type of system encounters the drawback that a large volume of water is required to be circulated between the radiator and the coolant jacket in order to remove the required amount of heat. Further, due to the large mass of water inherently required, the warm-up characteristics of the engine are undesirably sluggish. For example, if the temperature difference between the inlet and discharge ports of the coolant jacket is 4 degrees, the amount of heat which 1 Kg of water may effectively remove from the engine under such conditions is 4 Kcal. Accordingly, in the case of an engine having 1800 cc displacement (by way of example) is operated at full throttle, the cooling system is required to remove approximately 4000 Kcal/h. In order to acheive this a flow rate of 167 l/min (viz., 4000-60.times.1/4) must be produced by the water pump. This of course undesirably consumes horsepower.
With the above type of engine cooling system, the temperature of the coolant is prevented from boiling and is maintained within a predetermined narrow temperature range irrespective of the load and/or mode of operation of the engine, despite the fact that it is advantageous from the point of fuel economy to raise the temperature of the engine during low-medium load "urban" cruising to increase the thermal efficiency of the engine and reduce same during high speed and/or high load (full throttle) modes of operation for engine protection.
One arrangement which has attempted to overcome the above mentioned problems is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application First Provisional Publication No. Sho 58-5449. This arrangement senses the temperature of the combustion chamber walls and controls an electrically powered water pump in accordance therewith. However, as in the conventional arrangement disclosed hereinbefore, still a large volume of water or like coolant is required and during high load operation the electric pump is continuously engergized consuming similar large amounts of energy.
Another arrangement via which the temperature of the engine may be varied in response to load is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,420,436 issued in May 1947 in the name of Mallory. This document discloses an arrangement wherein the volume of water in the cooling system is increased and decreased in response to engine temperature and load. However, with this arrangement only the water level in the radiator is varied while the water jacket, formed in the cylinder block and cylinder head, remains full under the influence of a water circulation pump. Accordingly, this arrangement has suffered from the drawback that a power consuming water circulation pump is required. The temperature by which the coolant can be increased is limited by the fact that the water is prevented from boiling and in that the notable mass of water increases the weight and warm-up time of the engine.
FIG. 1 shows an arrangement disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Second Provisional Publication No. Sho 57-57608. This arrangement has attempted to vapourize a liquid coolant and use the gaseous form thereof as a vehicle for removing heat from the engine. In this system the radiator 1 and the coolant jacket 2 are in constant and free communication via conduits 3, 4 whereby the coolant which condenses in the radiator 1 is returned to the coolant jacket 2 little by little under the influence of gravity. This arrangement has suffered from the drawbacks that the radiator, depending on its position with respect to the engine proper tends to be at least partially filled with liquid coolant. This greatly reduces the surface area via which the gaseous coolant (for example steam) can effectively release its latent heat of vaporization and accordingly condense and thus has lacked any notable improvement in cooling efficiency. Further, with this system the pressure is maintained at atmospheric level in order to maintain the boiling point of the coolant constant and thus lacks any response to changes in engine load and speed. In order to maintain the pressure within the coolant jacket and radiator at atmospheric level, a gas permeable water shedding filter 5 is arranged as shown, to permit the entry of air into and out of the system. However, this filter permits gaseous coolant to gradually escape from the system, inducing the need for frequent topping up of the coolant level. A further problem with this arrangement has come in that some of the air, which is sucked into the cooling system as the engine cools, tends to dissolve in the water, whereby upon start up of the engine, the dissolved air tends to form small bubbles in the radiator which adhere to the walls thereof forming an insulating layer. The undissolved air tends to collect in the upper section of the radiator and inhibit the convention-like circulation of the vapor from the cylinder block to the radiator. This of course further deteriorates the performance of the device.
European Patent Application Provisional Publicaton No. 0 059 423 published on Sept. 8, 1982 discloses another arrangement wherein, liquid coolant in the coolant jacket of the engine 1, is not circulated therein and permitted to absorb heat to the point of boiling. The gaseous coolant thus generated is adiabatically compressed in a compressor 3 so as to raise the temperature and pressure thereof and introduced into a heat exchanger 4. After condensing, the coolant is temporarily stored in a reservoir 5 and recycled back into the coolant jacket via flow control valve 6.
This arrangement has suffered from the drawback that air tends to leak into the system upon cooling thereof. This air tends to be forced by the compressor along with the gaseous coolant into the radiator. Due to the difference in specific gravity, the air tends to rise in the hot environment while the coolant which has condensed moves downwardly. The air, due to this inherent tendency to rise, forms large bubbles of air which cause a kind of "embolism" in the radiator and badly impair the heat exchange ability thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,699 issued on Jan. 11, 1983 in the name of Evans (see FIG. 2 of the drawings) discloses an engine system wherein the coolant is boiled and the vapor used to remove heat from the engine. This arrangement features a separation tank 6 wherein gasesous and liquid coolant are initially separated. The liquid coolant is fed back to the cylinder block 7 under the influence of gravity while the "dry" gaseous coolant (steam for example) is condensed in a fan cooled radiator 8. The temperature of the radiator is controlled by selective energizations of the fan 9 to maintain a suitable rate of condensation therein. Condensate from the radiator 8 is collected in a small reservoir-like arrangement 10 and pumped back up to the separation tank via a small pump 11.
This arrangement while providing an arrangement via which air can be initially purged from the system tends to, due to the nature of the arrangement which permits said initial non-condensible matter to be purged from the system, suffer from rapid loss of coolant when operated at relatively high altitudes. Further, once the engine cools, air is relatively freely admitted back into the system. Moreover the provision of the separation tank 6 renders engine layout difficult.
Japanese Patent Application First Provisional Publication No. Sho 56-32026 (see FIG. 3 of the drawings) discloses an arrangement wherein the structure defining the cylinder head and cylinder liners are covered in a porous layer of ceramic material 12 and coolant sprayed into the cylinder block from shower-like arrangements 13 located above the cylinder heads 14. The interior of the coolant jacket defined within the engine proper is essentially filled with gaseous coolant during engine operation during which liquid coolant sprayed onto the ceramic layers 12. However, this arrangement has proved totally unsatifactory in that upon boiling of the liquid coolant absorbed into the ceramic layers the vapor thus produced escaping into the coolant jacket inhibits the penetration of liquid coolant into the layers whereby rapid overheating and thermal damage of the ceramic layers 12 and/or engine soon results. Further, this arrangement is plagued with air contamination and blockages in the radiator similar to the compressor equipped arrangement discussed above.
Another air purge arrangement for a so called "vapor cooled" type engine of the nature disclosed hereinabove in connection with U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,699, is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,292,946 issued in Aug. 11, 1942 in the name of Karig. This arrangement includes a heat sensitive bulb which is exposed to the interior of the condensor or radiator. The bulb contains a volatile liquid and controls the opening and closing of a diaphragm valve. With this arrangement, upon a sufficiently high temperature prevailing in the condensor, the diaphragm valve closes a vent port through which air and the like is discharged during intial warm-up. However, this arrangement aims at maintaining a uniform temperature regardless of variations in the conditions to which the engine is exposed and accordingly lacks any ability to vary the engine temperature in response to changes in engine speed and engine load and in no way seeks to induce conditions which minimize the tendency for contaminating air to lead back into the system when it cools down after operation.